


Before the Wolves Howl

by caitynearhood



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Talia Hale, Claudia Stilinski Feels, Claudia Stilinski Memories, Claudia Stilinski's Background, Claudia and Talia, F/M, Hale family - Freeform, Marriage, Pre-Hale Fire, Stilinski Family, Young Derek, baby stiles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-13 09:10:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3375932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitynearhood/pseuds/caitynearhood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before the adventures of Stiles Stilinski and the rest of the McCall pack, there was the life of his mother. Travel back to 1988 where Claudia attended Beacon Hills High School in a story never told on Teen Wolf</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the Wolves Howl

The welcome scent of coffee wafts through the air, calling to Claudia's weary legs to come take a rest. A metallic table reflects the sun, tilting slightly as Claudia anchors herself to reach the high chair next to her friend Talia. The need for caffeine consumes Claudia’s mind as she sights a waitress stalking towards the table. The waitress greets Claudia with a face that is fixed into a false smile. Her faces carries too much make up and it is highly unlikely she can even remember the natural color of her hair. She pulls a pencil from behind her ear and noisily chews her gum between each word.

“The usual?” shes asks in a flat voice.

Claudia and Talia nod slightly and the waitress retreats back to kitchen.

“Did you get the letter?” Talia asks sliding her hands across the reflective surface. Claudia doesn't speak as she reaches into her back pocket searching until she feels the texture of the crumpled paper. She places the letter on the table and immediately withdraws her hand as Talia reaches for it. _Accepted_. That’s what the letter said. _Your admissions to Southern California University_ _has been accepted._ Claudia can no longer hold in the smile that succumbs her mouth. She looks up to see Talia smiling back at her.

“Congratulations.” Talia says proudly smiling.

They continue to patiently wait for their order. Empty tables are strewn with cups and packaging. The grimy windows and tacky pleather seat cheapens the look of the café. Claudia’s coffee arrives and everything else disappears. Just her thoughts and her beautiful Soy latte. Talia does not drink coffee so she slips on her mug of hot chocolate instead and Claudia notice her occasional glances to the back corner of the cafe. Claudia turns around to see a group of boys around their age huddled together in deep conversation. A sigh escapes from Talia's lips.

"If you had to pick, which one would you choose," Talia murmurs. Confused by what she meant, Claudia turns back around to find her still staring at the boys in the corner.

"Pick for what?" Claudia asks in a whisper. Talia glimpses over to her direction to gives Claudia a mischievous smile.

"To fuck of course." She retorts and Claudia almost chokes on her latte. Claudia quickly eyes the cafe to make sure nobody had heard Talia's remark. Talia boldness was a regular occurrence but still somehow always caught Claudia off guard.

"Well?" Talia says with more persistence.

"Umm..." Claudia glances over to the area to which the boys are huddled in. There are five of them in total, each decorated with a lacrosse jersey and a textbook of some kind. Claudia immediately figures out who's Talia's would be. He stands overpowering them all in height. His dark hair, almost black, is draped loosely around his piercing blue eyes. His body is practically radiating the type of mysterious and dangerous aura that Talia is attracted to. He is definitely Talia's type. Claudia adverts her attention to survey the rest of the group and almost instantly, she notices him.

"-I don't know." Claudia says, completing her sentence.

"How about that one?" Talia says, pointing non-discreetly at the group. Claudia doesn’t have to look up to know who she is pointing to. Talia knows her type as well. "What's his name?” Talia says snapping her fingers trying to remember the forgotten name. Claudia can only recall the the faint memories of seeing him play on the lacrosse field and the blur of his face as he passes her in the hallway of Beacon Hill High School." Talia purses her lips and glances in her direction and Claudia shrugs. Claudia peek over to the boys again. She's right her choice is definitely him. His golden brown hair representing the appearance of brown sugar, seemingly sweetening his appearance. He stood apart from the rest in a way she could not pinpoint but felt strangely at ease with.

"Well-," Talia says, breaking through her barrier of thoughts,"My choice is definitely the tall one with the dark hair." she says.

"Fucking knew it," Claudia mumbles.

 

\----------------

 

Claudia promises Talia that she would call her later after she watches the latest episode of L.A. Law so they could discuss it, but mostly Claudia just wants to make sure she's okay. Claudia starts her beat up station wagon, and pulled out of the cafe parking lot. The static sound of Guns 'n Roses starts to play on her radio, and Claudia turns it up.

A few weeks ago Claudia's parents offered to buy her a new car to take to college. They were slightly disappointed with her first purchase of a constantly failing 1976 station wagon. Claudia is aware that it may not have been the smartest decision but ol' Betty and Claudia are bonded together now. Claudia just felt too attached to let it go. After making the first turn towards home, Claudia notices a car trailing closely behind. Claudia decides to accelerate in hopes it will expand the distance between them. Instead the driver takes her increased speed and gets even closer to her car.

"Get off her ass," she says to the driver even though she knows driver can't hear her. Claudia considers sticking her hand out window to giving him the bird. She looks in her rear view mirror to see him so close she could practically make out every detail of his face. Claudia recognizes him from the group of boys in the corner of the library, and then realizes that he was her choice. Claudia tries once again to rack her brain for anymore details still fails to recall even a name.

Becoming so distracted by the driver behind her that Claudia doesn't notice the stray animal until it was too late. His fur so gray it blended In with the pavement, and Claudia probably wouldn't has seen it if it wasn't for its bright glowing eyes. Her poor instincts kick in and Claudia slams hard on the brake. Almost simultaneously her body is propelled forward until it is abruptly caught by the strap of her seat belt knocking the air from her lungs. The sound of metal bending and snapping echoed though Claudia’s ears has it erupted into a terrifying screech. Glass shattered and everything seemed to twist and contort into something incredibly terrifying. Everything built and built until the noise was the only thing left and suddenly it was gone. Silence filled the air and seemed almost deafening compared to the screeching, as if the whole world was so shocked it couldn't produce a single sound. An explosion of pain erupted from Claudia’s head and radiated its way down to her back. Her foot is still firmly pressed against the brake pedal and Claudia hesitantly releases the pressure. She looks back in her rear-view mirror to see a car conjoined to the back of her precious station wagon. The boy in the car behind her gets out of his vehicle, rage etched in his face. Claudia unbuckles her seat belt and rests her head against the wheel. Claudia has never gotten in a car accident before and is terrified as hell. Claudia slowly gets out of the car as soundlessly as possible. Claudia glances over in front of her car to where the dog, Claudia almost hit, first appeared on the road, but it was gone.

"What the hell was that!" The boy's overpowering voice startles her.

"Why'd you stop?" He flings up his arms and looks around to as if to show that there is nothing to explain her abrupt halt. His harsh, accusing tone of voice snapped Claudia out of the trance and to the word of wisdom her father once told Claudia. Never admit fault.

"There was a-," her words broke apart as Claudia started to recall what she had seen. The most reasonable answer would be a dog, but the mental image Claudia captured before she braked contradicts that idea. The animal had a broad skull, long muzzle, and face the a predator. There was no breed of dog that could match what she had seen on the road. It wasn't dog, but it was something eerily similar. A wolf. "There was a d-dog in the road." Claudia said, stumbling out her words, because there was no way it was a wolf. Wolves don't live in California.   

"And you thought the best thing to do was to hit your brakes?"

"Well you shouldn't has been trailing her ass like that." her voice rises as result of increased frustration. "And there's no way in hell I would hit a dog on purpose just because some dumb-ass doesn't know how properly operate a vehicle."

He doesn't answer immediately, instead he takes his head and violently threads his fingers through his dark, medium length hair. Claudia starts to feel slightly threatened by his anger and considers running to the safety of her broken blue station wagon.    

"You're right," he says, "I shouldn't have be so close." Claudia is stunned into momentary silence. He looks at her and Claudia is convinced she see it in his eyes. Guilt.

She has to look away to form her next words coherently.

"We should call the police." Because Claudia is pretty sure that is what you do when you get in an accident.

"No-," the boy says in a sense of panic. "Let's not involve the police. My friend, he's a really good mechanic. He'll fix your car- for free - that bastard owes me anyway." He ends his sentence with a lopsided grin and Claudia looks at him examining him closely. The boys obvious dark eyes were often mistaken as brown, but if you look closely you'll see the specks of green within them. His hair, dark and lustrous, had fine gentle strains of chestnut that seem to merely catch all the sunlight around it.

The moment Claudia glanced at the hopelessness her choice was made and Claudia tell him.

"Okay."

A smile blossoms on his lips and Claudia remembers that smile. It is the smile that won senior superlative for ‘Best Smile.’ She remembers cutting out his face with his dazzling smile and gluing it on superlative page for the yearbook. And she remembers his name.

Claudia sticks out her hand and he takes it with gentle hands.

“Claudia,” she says as they slowly shake hands.

“John,” he says, “John Stilinski.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea of this a long time ago and I'm happy to finally start writing it. This is the love story of Claudia and John Stilinski. It will span from their senior year of high school until the day of Claudia's death. I will have to time hop some but I promise to include all the important events. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please comment any feedback. Thanks!


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